Finance minister Bahk Jae-wan will co-chair the ASEAN plus three ministerial and central bankers' meeting slated to take place this week in Manila, the government said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the policymaker will take the lead in pushing forward measures to improve the efficiency of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) agreement at the three-day meeting that kicks off Thursday.

Bahk, who chairs the talks this year with his Cambodian counterpart under a revolving leadership arrangement, will seek to expand the CMIM to incorporate an emergency prevention system and expand the size and duration of funds to support member countries.

The initiative is a multilateral currency swap arrangement that helps to regulate short-term liquidity shortfalls.

In addition, the finance minister will promote a New Roadmap-plus regime for the Asian Bond Market Initiative to build up regional swap markets, derivatives trading and a Regional Settlement Intermediary organization.

The finance ministry said the minister will be present for the 45th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday and Saturday.

"The policymaker is expected to urge members to create a regional financial safety net, fuel inter-regional trade and touch on growing inequality in Asia at the ADM meeting," it said.

Bahk will leave for the Philippines on Wednesday. (Yonhap)